Malkuth

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Malkuth Hebrew MLKVTh, “kingdom,” is the ninth Sephirah of the Kabbalah Tree of Life, representing the world of ordinary life.

Universal symbolism:

Name of God: ADNI, Adonai (Lord)Archangel: MThThRVN, Metatron, Prince of Countenances; SNDLPVN, Sandalphon (Twin Brothers)Angelic Host: AIShIM, Ishim (Humanity)Astrological Correspondence: AaVLM VSWDWTh, Olam Yesodoth (Sphere of the Elements)Tarot Correspondence: The four Tens and four Pages or Princes of the packElemental Correspondence: EarthMagical Image: A young woman sitting on a throneAdditional Symbols: The altar, the equal-armed cross, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and EvilColors:
in Atziluth – clear yellow,
in Briah – citrinr, olive, russet, and black;
in Yetzirah – as Briah, but flecked with gold;
in Assiah – black rayed with yellowCorrespondence in the Microcosm: GVP, Guph, the physical bodyCorrespondence in the Body: The feetGrade of Initiation: 1=10, ZelatorQlippoth: LILITH, Lilith, the Woman of Night

Text from the Thirty-two Paths of Wisdom corresponding to this Sephirah: “The Tenth Path is called the Resplendent Intelligence because it is exalted above every head, and sits on the throne of Binah. It illuminates the splendor of all the Lights, and causes an influence to descend from the Prince of Countenances.”

Malkuth is the “kingdom of God,’ the final depository of the divine attributes within the Sephiroth. Not by accident is it the lower extremity of the middle Sephiroth pillar for it is the recipient of the luminous or intelligent emanations of the “right side” Sephirahs, and of the dark or unintelligible emanations from the “left side” Sephirahs, but also of the of the central Sephirah, the highest which is Kether, the super-intelligible principle. In other words, Malkuth contains both omnipresence of the supreme, which is the universal spirit, and the unintelligible emanations, the darkest of which becomes concrete in creative substance.

Just as Binah is sometimes referred to as the “upper mother,” making the knowledge of the unity and wisdom–Kether and Chokmah--more accessible so is Malkuth frequently called the “lower mother” because she receives all of God’s attributes. In other words, that which is pure receptive in Binah and creative contraction in Geburah becomes cosmic emptiness in Hod and finally undifferentiated and causal substance in Malkuth. The “life of the worlds” is manifested in Netzach and communicated by Yesod to Malkuth, the substance.

Again, this tracing of the series of manifestations only exist in the concept of time; this is both theoretical and theological because God’s emanations always existed. A.G.H.

Sources:

Greer, John Michael. The New Encyclopedia of the Occult. St. Paul, MN, Llewellyn Worldwide. p. 296
Schaya, Leo. The Universal Meaning of the Kabbalah. Secaucus, NJ. University Books. 1971 pp.58-60